Washington

In 2012, Washington State’s population was nearly 6.9 million. An estimated 13% of this population is comprised of individuals aged 65 and above. The state also has an almost equal proportion between the number of male residents and the number of female residents.

Approximately 27% of adults in Washington were obese in 2012. Trends in obesity show that men have a slightly higher chance than women in developing this condition. Obesity generally becomes more prevalent in families with lower income. This health condition heightens the risk of stroke, heart diseases, respiratory complications, and osteoarthritis.

According to the Washington State Department of Health and Human Services, around 850,000 unpaid caregivers look after their family members and relatives. Only 1% of them benefit from caregiver support services, such as respite care. Many family caregivers in this state would rather keep their caregiving duty a secret than seek the necessary help in making their tasks easier.

Cost of Care

Below are the average daily cost* of long term care services in Washington.

City

Nursing Facility1

Assisted Living1

Adult Day Care2

Home Health Aide3

Bellingham

$260

$86

$67

$132

Olympia

$291

$126

$108

$132

Seattle

$307

$123

$53

$150

Spokane

$286

$107

$54

$132

Vancouver

$354

$92

$110

$132

Walla Walla

$234

$87

$50

$126

Notes:

*Costs are rounded to the nearest whole dollar.1Daily average for a private room.2Based on five days of care per week.3Based on six hours of care per day, five days per week.

Insurance Options

Washington residents are less likely to worry about pre-existing conditions in long term care insurance as they are among the most health-conscious in the United States. Washington is one of the most active states in regards to purchasing LTCI policies. It accounts for 2.89% of the whole country’s market for long term care insurance.

Washington residents can check and compare policies from among the 24 state-approved insurers for long term care coverage. Nine insurance carriers have the approval for marketing Partnership policies, including Mutual of Omaha, State Farm, Transamerica, and United Security Assurance. The Partnership program took effect in Washington on January 1, 2012.

Mutual of Omaha uses the term ‘producer’ instead of ‘agent’ in Washington.

Genworth began selling Partnership policies to the citizens of Washington in November 2013. LTCI policies that were bought on or later than February 8, 2006 can be exchanged under certain conditions.

State Long Term Care Programs

Washington’s Medicare dependents numbered at 1,029,529 in 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This figure amounted to 15% of the state’s overall population. In the same year, nearly 40,000 beneficiaries used their Medicare coverage for skilled nursing facility care. Around 40,000 individuals benefitted from the federal program’s services for home health care.

The state’s Marketplace for Medicaid is also known as the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. Medicaid also increased its coverage for 2014 to include more adults with limited income.

In order to boost care services and reduce expenditure, Washington worked on merging Medicare and Medicaid. Dual eligibles, or those who qualify for both of these federal programs, will benefit greatly from this initiative. The Medicare and Medicaid combination was first demonstrated in the counties of Snohomish and King.

More Resources

To get more specific information regarding long term care services and insurance options in Washington, please check the following websites: